Wayne Rooney celebrating after scoring against Chelsea on April 6, 2011, that could put Manchester United on their way to a treble, but he will be sitting out the Manchester City game, suspended after a swearing incident. — Reuters pic

LONDON, April 14 — Manchester City would ease some of the hurt inflicted on them over the past four decades by Manchester United if they were to win their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday and end United's treble hopes.

Whoever does come through will start as favourites to win the FA Cup itself on May 14 when they will face the winners of Sunday's other semi-final between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City.

For different reasons, both matches have excited the imagination of fans beyond just the teams involved — Saturday's because of the intense rivalry and significance of the tie to both Manchester clubs, and Sunday's because Bolton and Stoke rarely come so close to glory.

United have won their past seven matches in all competitions and are on a high after beating Chelsea 2-1 on Tuesday for a 3-1 aggregate success to secure a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

United are also seven points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and there is a possibility they could repeat their Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble of 1999 as they have hit form at just the right time.

Although they will be without the suspended Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, 37, has been outstanding in their recent run of victories.

"Our confidence is really high and players are coming back from injury and that's what you want at this stage of the season as there are games every three days," said Giggs.

"The manager will chop and change the team . . . but we've got 20 players probably competing for 11 places."

Unfortunately for United, Rooney, who has returned to form with 10 goals since February 1, is unavailable following his swearing incident at West Ham United two weeks ago.

City may also have to make do without the services of former United striker Carlos Tevez, who picked up a hamstring injury on Monday.

His absence could dent their chances of reaching the final for the first time since 1981. Thirty years ago they lost 3-2 to Tottenham Hotspur in a replay while their last FA Cup success was in 1969 when they beat Leicester City.

Although owner Sheikh Mansour has invested hundreds of millions into the club, City have yet to end their 35-year wait for a major trophy and will have to show a dramatic improvement on their abject display in Monday's 3-0 loss at Liverpool to prevent United rubbing their noses in the dirt again.

Even longer

While City's wait for major honours has lasted since 1976 when they won the League Cup, Bolton and Stoke have gone even longer without collecting a major piece of silverware.

Stoke, who have been playing in the FA Cup since 1883, have never reached the final. They last reached the semis in 1972 when they lost to Arsenal. That was also the year they won their only major trophy beating Chelsea in the League Cup final.

Bolton have won the FA Cup four times, the last of those triumphs coming in 1958 when Nat Lofthouse, their greatest ever player who died earlier this year, scored both goals when they beat Manchester United 2-0 at Wembley.

Both sides, sitting comfortably in mid-table, have beaten each other in the Premier League this season, and Bolton manager Owen Coyle says the idea of winning the Cup as a tribute to Lofthouse, has taken hold in the town.

"It would be nice if that comes to fruition but I think there's a lot of tough obstacles in the way for that to happen," he told Reuters.

"We're more than up for the challenge and we will do everything we can to reach the final against a very good Stoke side."

Stoke manager Tony Pulis told reporters: "It's a great achievement that we have got this far but we are not getting carried away with the idea we have had any sort of success. We have done well in the League and reaching the Cup final would show we are definitely moving in the right direction." — Reuters

LONDON, April 14 — Jose Mourinho stayed on course to become the first coach to win the Champions League with three different clubs when Real Madrid beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 yesterday to seal a 5-0 aggregate rout in the quarter-finals.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored one of the softest goals of his career as Mourinho's team set up a titanic semi-final confrontation with arch-rivals Barcelona on April 27 and May 3.

Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes allowed a long-range Ronaldo shot to bounce out of his hands in the 50th minute and failed to retrieve the ball as it bounced agonisingly over the line at White Hart Lane.

Real will now meet Barcelona four times in an epic 17-day spell, starting with Saturday's top of the table La Liga clash and next week's King's Cup final.

"The semi-final is a semi-final, anything can happen," said Mourinho who lifted the Champions League trophy with Inter Milan last season and with Porto in 2004.

"We have two matches against Barcelona before the semis and there is no time to think. If Spurs had scored in the first half . . . it could have been difficult but when Cristiano scored it was all over," the Portuguese told ITV Sport.

Real, 4-0 up from last week's first leg, were never in danger of suffering what would have been the biggest reversal since European club competition began in 1955 as they recorded their first away win in the knockout stages for nine years.

The closest Champions League debutants Spurs came to scoring was when Gareth Bale had a first-half goal ruled out because Luka Modric was offside.

Spurs, at the start, set about their virtually impossible task with Bale and Aaron Lennon outpacing Alvaro Arbeloa and Sergio Ramos at will on the flanks before whipping in balls that put Real under pressure.

One run by Bale, when he blazed past Ramos, brought an astonished look to the face of Mourinho, but it was Lennon who created a good chance after 27 minutes.

Penalty appeals

Lennon left Arbeloa in his wake again only for Roman Pavlyuchenko to blast the ball into the upper tier of the stands.

Spurs also had three penalty appeals turned down as they continued to go forward, Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli waving away claims after Bale, Modric and Pavlyuchenko all went down under challenges.

Real, naturally enough, were content to sit back and only gave the home defence one moment of real concern in the first half when Ramos forced Gomes to make a fine save from a header and Emmanuel Adebayor lashed the follow-up wide.

The second half lacked the intensity of the first after Ronaldo's goal as Real cruised into the last four, maintaining their challenge for a 10th European Cup title ahead of the final at Wembley Stadium on May 28.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was in philosophical mood after his team's defeat.

"The goal was disappointing but the goalkeeper has been great for us and he has made saves in the past that he had no right to make," said Redknapp.

LONDON: Manchester United veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs admitted Park Ji-sung's goal "knocked the stuffing" out of 10-man Chelsea in the 2-1 win in the second-leg quarterfinal at Old Trafford this morning for a place in the last four.

With United holding a 1-0 lead from the firstleg at Stamford Bridge, Mexican striker Javier Hernandez crashed home the opening goal just before halftime from Giggs' cross.

When Chelsea midfielder Ramires was dismissed in the 70th minute after receiving his second yellow card, their hopes seemed allbut over.

However, substitute striker Didier Drogba reduced the deficit in the 77th minute before Park immediately went up the other end to reclaim United's two-goal cushion and end the contest as the Red Devils won 3-1 on aggregate.

"Chelsea gave us a great game but you're always pleased to get into the semifinals," Giggs told Sky Sports.

"We expected them to come at us, they needed to score, we knew we needed to try to score too, to take the pressure off us. I think we deserved it, we played well down there, had a good gameplan and stuck to it and tonight got a couple of great goals.

"The second goal came at exactly the right time, they had just scored, so us scoring so quickly knocked the stuffing out of them, really," said Giggs, who had a great game as well.

United manager Alex Ferguson said they played very well against a very good team.

"Chelsea played a big part in the game. I thought we were the better team on the night. In a team game we had some fantastic performances, Park, Chicharito (Hernandez), all over, noone let us down."

Ferguson admitted his side were lucky to score so quickly after Chelsea's equaliser.

"That was the break we got in the game, to be honest, I thought it was a cheap goal to lose," he said.

Ferguson also hailed the enduring brilliance of Giggs, who set up both goals as United — likely to meet Schalke in the last four — set their sights on the final at Wembley on May 28.

"It's been said so many times about Giggs, but he's incredible, a unique person and player. His contribution was big because in terms of the part he played in the goal in the first-leg and in the goals tonight.

"His experience and composure were vital. But like I had said the whole team played with great credit."

SHANGHAI (AP): Sebastian Vettel will attempt to become the first driver in seven years to start the Formula One season with three straight wins as the racing series moves to the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.

The Red Bull driver won back-to-back races from the pole position in Australia and Malaysia to start the year, although his margin of victory was slimmer last weekend in Sepang than it was in Melbourne.

The last driver to win three straight races to open the season was Michael Schumacher in 2004.

There's only a seven-day break between Malaysia and China, which should give Vettel an advantage as his rival teams will largely have the same parts as they had in the first two races.

But Red Bull's strong start hasn't been completely flawless, with its KERS energy boost system malfunctioning in both Australia and Malaysia.

In Melbourne, the team ditched it entirely for both qualifying and the race. At Sepang, Vettel's system was inoperable for the middle part of the race, while teammate Mark Webber's device didn't work at all during Sunday's race.

The Shanghai circuit has the longest straightaway of any track on the F1 calendar, meaning Red Bull will be eager to diagnose the problem with the KERS system and get it fixed.

The long straight will also put a premium on good usage of the adjustable rear wing - an innovation that worked just as intended in Malaysia to help overtaking on the main straight and should create plenty of passing in China, too.

The adjustable rear wing is set by the push of a button from inside the cockpit, which lowers a flap that increases straight-line speed and makes it easier to pass.

The rear wing malfunctioned on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in Malaysia, leading to a collision with his old rival, Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari. Had it worked, Alonso would have comfortably passed Hamilton, but instead he had to try to pass the old-fashioned way and ended up clipping Hamilton's rear tire, forcing a pitstop to repair the damage.

Both drivers were assessed with 20-second time penalties after the race - Alonso for causing the collision and Hamilton for changing position more than once to try to block him.

While the penalty didn't affect Alonso's sixth-place finish, the extra time dropped Hamilton from seventh to eighth, providing more fodder for the long-running antagonism between the drivers and their teams.

Hamilton had been in second place for much of the race in Malaysia, and was less than four seconds behind Vettel at the midpoint.

But in the second half of the race, he began to struggle with tire wear and was forced into what appeared to be an unplanned stop with just four laps to go as the team tried to stop his slide back through the field.

The Pirelli tires introduced this season were designed to degrade more quickly than the hardier Bridgestones, which caused Hamilton problems, as his tire management is often less than prudent.

By contrast, his teammate Jenson Button is famous for his ability to nurse his tires, and that helped him in Malaysia, where he finished second, only three seconds behind Vettel.

The Pirelli degradation is likely to be even more pronounced in Shanghai, as preseason testing showed that they wear more quickly in cool conditions.

Temperatures are forecast to reach highs of about 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) this weekend in Shanghai, much cooler than the tropical heat of Malaysia.

The degradation of the tires was evident in Malaysia, where the track was carpeted in "marbles" - the small balls of rubber that come off the tires - by the end of the race, with only the racing line clear.

Renault's Vitaly Petrov blamed the marbles for contributing to his spectacular crash last weekend, when he ran off the track and hit a drainage ditch that launched him through the air, across the track and into a brake distance marker.

That put the Russian, who finished third in Melbourne, out of the race, although his teammate Nick Heidfeld managed to take third to give the team back-to-back podiums.

The Renault is a strong car, albeit a bit down on speed, and the team can only wonder what results it might be seeing if it had its top driver Robert Kubica, who is likely out for the season with injuries sustained in a rally crash.

The Shanghai race could be won in the garages. If Red Bull can fix its KERS problems, it will be even harder to beat.

If Ferrari can solve its rear-wing issues and find some more speed in qualifying, it may be a genuine challenger.

And if McLaren can take another forward step like it did in Australia and Malaysia following a troubled offseason, it may be good enough to win the race.

The Penangite has yet to get on the scoresheet even though UniKl have won matches by big goal margins.

UniKL lead the Division One standings and they have scored 37 goals from six matches. They have potent penalty corner batteries and are now even more formidable as they are striking from field attempts as well.

The 19-year-old Azri, who trains with national training squad after an impressive display in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL), believes that training with two different set-ups is not affecting his game.

"I don't think the amount of training is affecting my game at all. My role in the team is not to score goals, so it doesn't really concern me when I don't score," said the Butterworth lad.

"The first week was a bit tiring but I managed adapt to it fast. I train with the senior team on the first three days of the week and I'll return to UniKL on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for MHJL matches.

"I'm happy that the team have been winning with big scores in our last three games. I haven't peaked yet and I reckon that my best performance is just around the corner."

UniKL free-scoring form will be on a stiff test when they play against former champions Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) on Friday. Their other match this weekend is against Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS) Juniors on Sunday.

Team Lotus' Jarno Trulli suffered an early retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix last weekend.

HEADING for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai this weekend, Team Lotus look to build on pace before they believe they can make an impact.

Half a second behind the established teams like Toro Rosso, Force India, Williams and Sauber, the Malaysian outfit will pin their hopes on updates prior to the Spanish GP in Barcelona on May 20-22 to push them right into the mix.

That will be five rounds after they began with the current spec on the T128s which have shown promise, but still leave Team Lotus in the position they were at the end of last season, above Virgin Racing and HRT, but still clearly behind the rest.

The opening two rounds saw Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen suffer a retirement each, while Trulli produced a 13th place finish at the Australian GP and Kovalainen, the sole Team Lotus finisher at 15th in their home race, the Malaysian GP last weekend.

"We head to China after taking a good step forward in Malaysia, but we are all focused on the reality of where we are now and know that we have a lot of work ahead of us," said team principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

"The main aim for me now is to improve our reliability and make sure both cars cross the finish line on Sunday.

"We have shown there is pace in the car, and there will be more to come when we start putting the updates on in Europe.

"But now we have to make sure we give the drivers the time they need on track to optimise the setup and the only way to do that is to avoid reliability issues."

Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne confirmed that test drivers, Luiz Razia of Brazil and Davide Valsecchi of Italy, both from Team Lotus sister outfit in GP2, Team AirAsia, will be taking on duties onboard both cars in the first practice session on Friday.

"I think Shanghai will be another interesting weekend for us, especially as we have had two races so far in such different conditions," said Gascoyne.

"In Melbourne the tyres lasted longer than I think everyone expected and then in Malaysia there was much higher drop-off and multiple stops as a result.

"In China we will all be in slightly unknown territory with the tyres and the cooler temperatures will mean the most important goal for us will be to maximise our track time on Friday and Saturday morning, getting the cars set up properly for qualifying and bridging the gap to make it into Q2."

SOUTH Korea's defending champion Noh Seung Yul will be in the company of US Masters champions Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen, both of South Africa, for the first two rounds of the Maybank Malaysian Open starting tomorrow at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

The 19-year-old, who won the Asian Tour Order of Merit last year, faces a tough challenge in his title defence with Schwartzel starting as firm favourite after his stunning victory at the US Masters on Sunday.

Oosthuizen, who claimed his first major at the British Open at St Andrews last year, is expected to be in contention come Sunday.

The trio will tee off the first round at 8.10am tomorrow and the second round at 1pm on Friday.

Two-time Maybank Malaysian Open champion Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand will play his opening two rounds with World No 1 and PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer of Germany and Irish star Rory McIlroy, the World No 9.

Kaymer will be eager to bounce back from missing the halfway cut at Augusta National last week while McIlroy will be on a mission to erase the bitter memory of losing the US Masters with a closing 80 after leading the event for three rounds.

Thongchai, Kaymer and McIlroy will tee off at 1pm tomorrow and 8.10am on Friday.

India's Jeev Milkha Singh, a two-time Asian Tour No 1, talented Italian Matteo Manassero and big-hitting Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who recently won the SAIL Open in India on March 25 for his first Asian Tour win, will be another trio to follow.

They will play the first round at 8.20am tomorrow and Friday's second round at 1.10pm.

Malaysia's Danny Chia, seen as the best local hope to end the host's title drought, will tee off the first two rounds with Welshman Rhys Davies and South African James Kingston at 8.20am tomorrow and 1.20pm on Friday.